Day 4 : Speeding thrills

It was the start of our 7-day Japan Railway Pass. Just before we checked out of our Asuka Shinjuku Hotel, I took a picture of this special 'set' that's mounted on top of our tv for the past 3 days. Our tv was by the way, not functioning at all. Couldn't even be switched on., but we didn't bother to inform the staff, coz our purpose of touring japan wasn't for the tv programmes. But look at the brochure- 'cherry bomb'. Does it sound.. 'misleading'? Indeed, as we opened the brochure, the content was.. meant for adults. This was actually a pay-per-view channel for.. adults who need it, n not the SCV setup boxes we have at home. It's my first time taking shinkansen(新幹線) , otherwise known as bullet trains!! We weren't allowed to take Nozomi trains, which were the fastest, but we took the '2nd fastest', Shinkansen Hikari.The very first time i ate an authentic bento(弁当 ) . This was our brunch by the way. Looks appetising? This is the typical food that Japanese usually eat on trains(n wont be fined S$500), and they have a wide variety to choose from too. The tray was actually made of styrofoam, but still looked very nice.Our train made a brief stop at Nagoya(名古屋) , which is the 4th largest city in Japan. The reflection from the building nearby happened to show the head of our train.Nice!We had to switch from hikari 367 to hikari railstar at Okayama station to our destination (Hiroshima). I took a picture with Shinkansen Nozomi.. an aerodynamically-designed head!
I took a video of a shinkansen moving off.. not very fast though, but u can see how long it is..


After sharing 1 bento among 3 persons, which obviously wasnt enough, we bought 2 more.I took 2 more videos of the sceneries viewed from shinkansen, hoping that it would give u an indication of how fast it was..

Ok..the next clip was even more amazing, coz when i was taking the scenery, take note of the last few seconds when i shifted the camera to the other side. I switched over coz i 'felt'(not seen) that a bullet train went past in the opposite direction. See how fast the train 'disappeared', considering the length of the train i showed u in the first clip.

Amazing? Despite the speeds of the shinkansens, i never felt car-sickness or whatsoever, and it felt so comfortable to travel in it. When will Singapore have it too? Anyway, we reached our destination, Hiroshima(広島), after a near to 5 hour ride. Hiroshima, best known for it's unfortunate involvement in WWII, is an urbanised city. We took a tram(yet another FIRST in our trip) to our backpackers' hostel, J-Hoppers Hiroshima.
After a brief check-in, settling down, we 'rushed' off for our next program on the list, a visit to Hiroshima Castle. This is the 'entrance' of the castle.
A shrine that we came across b4 we reached the castle itself. I find this scene very 'korean'.. Maybe the 'da chang jin' look, with this lady sweeping the steps in front of the shrine, but i havent watched the show b4 lar.Ah.. the first castle that we went to for this trip.. Hiroshima Castle. 5 storeys high. Clear skies, just a bit sunny, but never hot.
As pictures were only allowed to be taken on the 2ne storey n top deck, this was the last picture we took on 2nd storey, a model of how the area looked like in the past. See the castle in the middle of the picture? The castle had exhibitions on the history of hiroshima, n some looked similar to the exhibits we saw in Tokyo National Museum that day.
After a short climb, we finally reached the top deck of the castle. Here were some views from the castle.
Note that the castle is surrounded by waters, probably to deter infiltrating enemies in the past.
At the right side of the picture u can see the small roof popping out among the trees. This was the main entrance that I took a picture with previously. With the stadium n buildings in the background, it had a nice blend of the ancient and the present.
They had traditional costumes for us to try on for FREE. Being singaporeans, how could we say no? The watch of mine gave away the possibility that i was a man from the past.
As it was drawing near to the closing time, we had the honour of being helped by the director of Hiroshima Castle to put on these costumes. The helmet had quite a stench.. but this costume wouldn't be complete without the helmet.Samurais?
As we left the castle, we came across these trees.. Maple trees.. Probably another first again. My first time in my life seeing a maple tree..
It wasnt autumn yet, but the red maple leaves were already there..
The typical waters that separated the castle from the rest of the lands..
This was a tree that survived the atomic bomb.. amazing..
Well.. read the words.. if u are able to..
Looked different from normal trees.. wasnt it?
In the evening, we went to this shopping mall called Motomachi Cred, an artistic architecture, in Hiroshima City.
This was what i ate for dinner.. Tonkatsu don, otherwise known as pork cutlet rice.. Mine was fried sotong and pork with cheese though..
And these were what balex n fred took..
Had a short walk in the supermarket.. and the infamous(due to their prices) fruits were on display.. (473yen = S$6 approx, PER mangosteen)
3150yen = S$40.. for a watermelon
10500yen = S$135 for a honeydew!!! Anyone wants to set up a fruit business with me over there?
Fred went for a haircut in the night(i wished i had one too), then we went to this shop recommended by his hairstylist, for the famous Okonomiyaki (originated from Hiroshima) as supper. A glimpse of the busy shop even when most of the neighbouring shops were already closed..
Okonomiyaki.. one of the foods i usually take at taka food court.. Obviously, this had much more ingredients than the one in Singapore..
Posing with the huge serving of okonomiyaki.. I'm hungry!
It had been a very tiring day, after the long hours of travelling.. but amazing experience as well, coz apart from the aeroplanes, the fastest transport i've taken was a cab on Singapore expressways.. 110-120km/h? Now i've a little feel of what lewis hamilton/michael schumacher/fernando alonso experienced weekly.